Social Media Marketing Pet Peeves: Avoid these Mistakes

A lot of people market themselves extremely well on social media. A lot of people really don’t. They get so caught up in trying to make a sale that they can’t figure out why this whole social media thing isn’t working well for them. They might get frustrated, annoyed or just be so over the whole thing. I can understand that. Most likely it’s because they’re breaking some of the previously unwritten rules. So I’m going to share some of my marketing pet peeves along with the rules that should prevail when marketing on Facebook — and that you must abide by in order to be successful.

I’ve seen every single one of these offenses multiple times, and it seems that a lot of people really aren’t getting the social media marketing thing right.

1. Private Messaging Me. If I like your post, that doesn’t mean that I want you to message me asking me to buy from you. Generally, people buy from those they know, like and trust. If they don’t, they’re probably not going to buy from you. So, if you message me the second I’ve liked your post, it’s really going to annoy me, and I might just block you. You’re certainly digging yourself a hole to work your way out of.

2. “Buy from me” posts. Every other post is a “buy from me” post. You need to have more content than “buy from me”. Look around for inspiration. Post all kinds of inspiration, affirmations, quotes, and videos.

3. Drive by postings.If all you do is drop into groups, post and run, you’re going to have a big uphill battle to get clients. It’s generally accepted that people will do business with those they know, like and trust. So if they don’t trust you or know you, and all you ever do is post and run but never interact, you’re not going to be very successful.

4. Adding people to groups without their permission. Look, I know it’s tempting to get those huge numbers in your groups. I’ve got over 46,000 members in my largest Facebook group, and am adding scores of people each day. I didn’t get there by adding people to my group without their permission. Instead of adding someone to a group, consider messaging them and asking if they’re interested. If I tell you I’m not currently interested, that’s okay. I keep finding myself added to groups every day, and it is overwhelming to keep up with them. If you add me to a group, and I don’t know about it, I’m not going to participate anyway. So there is absolutely no value to doing this.

5. Like Ladders. If you just want ‘Likes’ on your page, you’re not going to get the kind of engagement you want and need on your page. It’s worthless. Focus instead on quality over quantity and getting the kinds of likes you need to make your business sustainable. If you focus on getting engagement and posting things that people are interested in, you’ll get better results and more clients.

In general, focus on creating and distributing quality content. Once you’ve done that, your followers and likes will increase. It is such an incredible thing.

Meet the Author: Haley Lynn Gray

Haley helps female entrepreneurs create a strategy plan for their businesses – so they can make enough money to spend quality time with their family, pay for their children’s dance lessons, pay bills – and not worry about where the next client is coming from.

Haleyis a serial entrepreneur and founder of Leadership Girl.She helps other entrepreneurs build their businesses by sharing the benefits of her business education and experience through Business Coaching.

Whether you want to get a new business off the ground or expand an existing business, Haley can assist you.